At the SHEEO Meeting in Boston this August, Richard Yelland, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), presented higher education in a global context.  He introduced several challenges governments everywhere face that can be translated to challenges in higher education: “Ensuring fairness and equity in the system; managing diversity without reinforcing hierarchy; ensuring quality without over-regulation; improving the transmission of information between the labor market, individuals and the institutions; supporting innovation and research; and understanding the interplay of quality, equity and efficiency.” To download the presentation, click here:   http://www.sheeo.org/about/pdconf/pdmeet07.htm

How might education officials address these issues?

Ensuring quality without over-regulation
Non-binding policy recommendations for improving college readiness
A number of organizations and institutions are addressing college readiness initiatives to help ensure that students receive a quality education while at college through promoting better pre-college preparation.  Suggested policies include raising four-year college admissions requirements and focusing instruction on higher level cognitive skills that require certain knowledge and competencies.  Shifting policies at the higher-education level sends a message that colleges and universities are committed to academic advancement which might, subsequently, result in improvements in high schools.

Ensuring fairness and equity in the system
Improving access versus promoting success
The report, “Strategies for Improving Student Success in Postsecondary Education,” published by WICHE in January 2007, asserts that the U.S. has done a better job of achieving high levels of access than improving the success rates of students.  State and federal funding has been largely geared toward access, with little emphasis on achievement, especially for low-income students.  Early intervention programs in high school could help to alleviate this concern for both students and higher education faculty.  WICHE suggests students also need more support and instruction in the financial aid application process.

Supporting innovation and research
A global economy of knowledge
The 2006 G8 Summit in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, approved the document, “Education for Innovative Societies in the 21st Century," which brought to light the need to support harmony among science, education and innovation.  The first note of the document states:

“Education is at the heart of human progress. Economic and social prosperity in the 21st  century depend on the ability of nations to educate all members of their societies to be prepared to thrive in a rapidly changing world. An innovative society prepares its people to embrace change. We will promote the global-innovation society by developing and integrating all three elements of the "knowledge triangle" (education, research and innovation), by investing fully in people, skills and research, and by supporting modernization of education systems to become more relevant to the needs of a global knowledge-based economy.”

Building on that document, the G8-UNESCO World Forum’s “Education, Research and Innovation: New Partnership for Sustainable Development,” further discussed the concept of a “global economy of knowledge” with presentations from high-level speakers in the educational, scientific and entrepreneurial worlds.  To view the full document from the G8 Summit, visit http://en.g8russia.ru/docs/12.html.

Understanding the interplay of quality, equity and efficiency
Developing interests into outcomes
It is common talk within the higher education community that the U.S. higher education system is not adequately preparing our citizens for the modern global economy.  America no longer has the best higher education system in the world.  Education is an investment on all levels: individual, economic and social.  The National Competitiveness Council emphasizes the importance of interplay among these areas of investment.  Higher education stakeholders have multiple objectives, and designing a system that takes these different interests into account to provide ideal outcomes requires a collaboration of quality, equity and efficiency.  Competition, mostly related to funding for colleges, will breed a system that delivers on desired outcomes.

Managing diversity without reinforcing hierarchy
Equity and fairness
Higher education institutions face the challenge of preserving and enhancing quality while making sure the same quality education benefits everyone.  The changing demographic of high-school graduates, as well as their sheer numbers, affect the scope of preparation necessary for colleges and universities and their students.  Higher education institutions must also determine the strategy for ensuring fair and equitable access to the higher education they provide. 

Improving the transmission of information between the labor market, individuals and the institutions
A focus on adult learners
Removing barriers to lifelong learning is a goal of the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning. According to the Council, adult learners are getting more attention these days because there are more jobs in the labor market than there are qualified, young graduates to fill them.  Adults who may have the skills, but lack the credentials, for these jobs can re-train through continuous learning.  They then have many more options, including higher achievement within their current field, developing a career that branches from their current are of expertise, or pursuing a completely new career track.  Higher education institutions that are in sync with the labor market will be better suited to serve their students and prepare them for the future.